Avila Perspective, Chap. 245: Farewell to the Thompson Promotions Era and More

It’s the end of the Thompson Boxing era.

Many boxing promotions tested the waters in the Southern California area known as the Inland Empire, but only Thompson Boxing Promotions established roots and proved to be the small promotion company that could produce champions.

That reign is over.

Thompson Boxing Promotions will be shutting its doors for good on Friday, July 21, when it presents its final boxing show at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, California. The death of its president Ken Thompson was the main reason for the closure.

The main event features George Acosta (15-1) meeting Edy Valencia (20-11-6) in a super featherweight clash set for eight rounds.

“We are deeply grateful to our loyal fans, who have been the driving force behind Thompson Boxing’s success over the years,” said Alex Camponovo, the matchmaker and operations manager for Thompson Boxing from its inception in 2000.

For more than two decades Thompson heralded the sport of boxing, not just with his promotion company; he also was a strong part in establishing the World Boxing Hall of Fame. Though that organization no longer exists, it strongly aided the sport of professional prizefighting in the USA.

Later in 2000, Thompson Boxing staged their first card featuring Carlos “El Elegante” Bojorquez and Rosember Palacios in a venue in Ontario, California. It wasn’t supposed to be a regular event, just a one-and-done show. It succeeded. They decided to do another and see how it goes.

On June 18, 2001, the first Thompson Boxing show at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario took place and featured Jaime De La Torre and Juan Carlos Barreto. They fought to a split draw after 10 rounds.

That launched Thompson Boxing for good in the club show circuit.

From that point on, fighters from all destinations arrived to perform in front of Inland Empire audiences. Many of the fighters gave their heart and souls inside the prize ring and some of them made it to the top.

Tim “Desert Storm” Bradley was recently voted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He was a Thompson Boxing fighter for several years before moving on to Top Rank and fights against Manny Pacquiao, Juan Manuel Marquez and Ruslan Provodnikov.

Others who fought under the Thompson Boxing banner were Josesito “Riverside Rocky” Lopez, Mauricio “El Maestro” Herrera, Dominic Salcido, Ronny Rios, Luis Ramos Jr., Kevin Hoskins, Artemio Reyes, Efrain Esquivias, Cleotis Pendarvis, Alberto Herrera, Joshua Conley, Brandon Adams, and Colombian world champs Jonatan Romero, Darleys Perez and Yonnhy Perez.

In the beginning, excitement soared as this new promotion company picked the Inland Empire to stage its boxing shows. The “I.E.” is the acronym for the area that combines San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. It spans from Pomona to the Palm Desert area. When Thompson Boxing first arrived, the total population was about 3 million. Twenty years later the population is about 5 million.

The Inland Empire consists geographically of low and high desert areas and several mountain ranges. The center is roughly 80 miles from downtown Los Angeles which is running out of room, so the overflow population is moving east toward the I.E.

One thing about the I.E. is sports are the ticket to entertainment.

Thompson Boxing banked on the population’s thirst for boxing and it hit the mother lode. Boxing is extremely popular in the I.E. and they have he gyms to prove it. Big Bear, Indio, Coachella, Riverside, Ontario, Chino and Pomona are all strongholds for boxing gyms.

Out of those many gyms world champions Sugar Shane Mosley, Julio Diaz, Kaliesha West and Randy Caballero were produced.

Though those fighters never fought on Thompson shows, boxing has always been big in the area and Ken Thompson and his operations manager and matchmaker Alex Camponovo proved it over the past two decades by discovering hidden talent in the Inland Empire and beyond.

“It has been an honor to work with such exceptional talent for the past 23 years, and we take pride in the role we played in their careers,” Camponovo said.

Sadly, it is all coming to an end on Friday July 21.

Oscar De La Hoya Documentary

A two-part documentary called “The Golden Boy” on the life of Oscar De La Hoya will premiere on HBO this coming Monday, July 24 and Tuesday, July 25

De La Hoya was a six-division world titlist and one of the most successful prizefighters in history. He amassed between $700 million and $1 billion in purse money depending on which source.

Born and raised in East Los Angeles, an area known for violence and brutality, he rose to win Olympic fame by winning the only Olympic gold medal for boxing by an American in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain.

The documentary, headed by Mark Wahlberg, Mario Lopez and others, supposedly depicts the untold stories behind his rise to fame and glory from 1992 to the present.

Inoue vs Fulton   

Next Tuesday, July 25, the super bantamweight unification battle between Naoya Inoue (24-0, 21 KOs) and Stephen Fulton (21-0, 8 KOs) takes place in Tokyo, Japan at Ariake Arena. ESPN+ will stream the fight live.

“Monster” Inoue, 30, is a three-division and undisputed bantamweight world champion moving up a weight division to challenge Fulton for the WBC and WBO super bantamweight titles. It will be his fourth division world title if he succeeds.

Fulton, 29, hails from Philadelphia, Pa. and holds the WBC and WBO super bantamweight world titles. He successfully defended both titles against former unified world titlist Danny Roman in his last fight a year ago.

It figures to be Inoue’s greatest challenge.

Fights to Watch

Fri. DAZN 11 a.m. Lee McGregor (12-0-1) vs Erik Robles (13-1).

Sat. UFC Fight Pass 5:15 p.m. Serhii Bohachuk (22-1) vs Patrick Allotey (42-4).

Sat. ESPN 7 p.m. George Kambosos Jr. (20-2) vs Maxie Hughes (26-5-2); Giovani Santillan (30-0) vs Erick Bone (27-6).

Tues. ESPN+ 1:45 a.m. Naoya Inoue (24-0) vs Stephen Fulton (21-0).

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